Vacant plots, aging apartments block development of 5.5 lakh homes in Ahmedabad: Study

Ahmedabad: The city is caught in a housing paradox of its own making. Its affluent western neighbourhoods are burdened by aging, seismically vulnerable apartments. Its peripheral zones are paralysed by outdated zoning rules.

And across the city, empty homes are dragging down property values.These findings come from N K Patel, patron and past president of the Institute of Town Planners India, whose research paper was presented at a workshop on the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar Development Plan 2041 in May 2026. It reveals that the city could unlock over 5.5 lakh new housing units by aggressively pivoting its Floor Space Index (FSI) policy and accelerating redevelopment.Patel’s analysis begins in the West Zone — covering Vasna, Navrangpura, Usmanpura and Ambawadi. Auditing AMC property tax bills across 86,388 structural entries in 12 core wards, he found that 40% of existing apartments — some 34,752 units — were built before 2000, predating modern post-earthquake structural codes. Replacing them would add 13,900 new units to the core alone.Scaling the analysis to the wider western belt, Patel estimates roughly 60,000 aging apartments exist.

Even treating only 30% as dilapidated would yield 20,900 new housing units — excluding high-growth pockets such as Ghatlodia and Thaltej.Beyond the core, Patel’s mapping identified 2,965 reserved plots up to the SP Ring Road. The peripheral R3 zone holds 16.9 square kilometres across 3,029 plots, yet has seen negligible development over 24 years due to a restrictive 0.3 FSI.A uniform 2.7 FSI baseline, he argues, would unlock 1.31 lakh additional units.

In Sola-Ognaj alone, this would generate 90,805 homes.Patel also warns against repeating past Green Belt mistakes and flags a 15% structural vacancy ratio — ghost houses whose inventory has risen from 11.85% in 1991 to 14.82% in 2018, suppressing resale values by at least Rs 1,000 per square foot.Don’t take boxes===BOX 1RESEARCH INSIGHTSOn policy paralysis: Peripheral R3 zones have been stagnant for 24 years because “restrictive zoning” makes development unviableOn seismic safety: 40% of the West Zone’s housing stock is over 25 years old and lacks “modern post-earthquake structural codes,” necessitating immediate redevelopmentImmediate renewal: 18,000 apartments in Ellisbridge, Naranpura, and Sabarmati warrant “immediate renewal”The stagnation factor: Despite having nearly 17 sq km of land, R3 zones have produced “negligible” housing in two decadesThe vacancy paradox: Ahmedabad’s vacancy rate has risen from 11.8% (1991) to 14.8% in 2018; developers must compete with a 15% “ghost” house stock.Total capacity: Between vacant land (400k units) and R3 conversion (131k units), the city can add over 5.3 lakh homes without expanding its current boundaryBOX 2Vacant land inventory(Up to SP Ring Road)Zone TypePlot CountTotal Area (sq km)PotentialR1 (High-density areas)3101.66Highrise apartmentsR2 (Medium density)1,1905.92Mid-density housingR3 (Peripheral areas)3,02916.95Stagnant reservoirRAH (Affordable housing zone)2,3019.92Low-cost unitsBOX 3Housing yield if new FSI policy is implementedPolicy frameworkTotal housing units projectedBase FSI (0.3 to 1.8)273,316Purchasable FSI (Uniform 2.7)400,438R3 Conversion (Pockets 1 & 2 only)131,550BOX 4PHOTOQUOTESJitendra Shah, president, Urban Redevelopment Housing Society Welfare Association“Paldi, Vasna, Navrangpura, Vadaj, Naranpura, Usmanpura, and Memnagar are key pockets for redevelopment opportunities.

Apartment concept came here initially. As of now, more than 500 societies have been redeveloped or are under construction or MoU signed, while there are negotiation going on for at least 400 societies.”Kartik Soni, developer“Redevelopment has huge potential in the city but 100% consent from society residents is very difficult. There should be SOP for redevelopment after 75% of the members give consent for redevelopment. Steep price rise in raw material prices has affected redevelopment negotiations in last few months.”